Chapter 589 — A Distant Communication

And then call the Wind Speakers back to work (no error).

Today the monitored channels were still calm, with nothing but meaningless white noise in the signals returned by all the antennas.

A male elf with short golden hair sighed softly: "It seems the Sentinel Tower won't be recovering anytime soon... I wonder how those messenger teams sent to the north are faring."

A long-haired male elf beside him turned his head: "The most recent message sent back indicated that the human nations have all begun preparing to repair the barrier. They should have started by now."

"I hope they can get even the most basic secondary tower facilities running as soon as possible—that might speed up the Sentinel Tower's self-repair somewhat," the short-haired elf said. "With communications to the north cut off, these days are truly hard to endure."

"I heard your daughter is in the north?" A female elf nearby overheard the conversation and could not resist leaning in to ask.

It was now close to the shift-change hour, and even elves were apt to feel a little slack.

"Yes, she fell in love with a human and won't come back," the short-haired elf who had spoken first said helplessly. "Couldn't talk her out of it. I let her be."

"How is it I remember that being two hundred years ago?" the female elf said, curiosity on her face. "Wasn't it said that she would return once that human had lived out his natural lifespan?"

The short-haired elf sighed: "Alas... right now it's her third human husband... or maybe the fourth? I no longer have the heart to keep track."

"Look on the bright side, my friend," an elf at a listening station a little farther off joined the pre-shift chatter. "At least it's better than that one from the Frostleaf family. Word is that High Messenger Suo You applied for a posting to Ansu precisely because of that..."

The elves present exchanged glances and smiled knowingly.

Someone remarked with feeling: "Even becoming a high ranger doesn't let you escape a mother's power..."

Outsiders in the north of the continent might find it hard to imagine that the mysterious and elegant elves would also discuss such domestic matters as humans do.

But the Wind Listeners' time for idle domestic chatter was abruptly cut short by a sudden chime of wind bells.

The chime came from one of the listening stations. At first, the Wind Listener at that station thought it was a system false alarm—similar false alarms had occurred three times in the past month—but soon, chimes came from more listening stations, and the holographic projections displayed markers indicating the detection of unknown communications!

The Listeners who had already been preparing for the handover were briefly taken aback; then every elf forgot about clocking off and hurried back to their posts.

"Tracking the signal..."

"Confirmed—last relayed from the Great Wall, Sentinel Tower No. 37! It is an internal signal—but it carries no sigil-cipher of the Sentinel Towers. Unknown signal!"

"Tracing the source... point of origin is Sentinel Tower No. 6! The north of the continent!!"

"Signal strength is too weak—Lorraine, open the gain antennas, point every gain antenna at Sentinel Tower No. 37! Quickly, quickly, quickly—we're receiving a signal from the north!"

Across the Sunvault Hall, between the spired towers and the palace roofs, silver-white armor plating that blended seamlessly with the architecture slid aside in silence, and antenna arrays of elegant curvature rose from their concealed housings. They swiveled sensitively in the air and swung swiftly to bear upon the direction of the Gondor Wastes.

A few minutes later, a high-ranking elf in a pale gold robe and a crown of flowers and leaves hurried toward the heart of the Sunvault Hall—the bedchamber of Queen Belantia.

Belantia was being dressed by her attendants for rest, but she had already sensed faintly that the antenna arrays of the Sunvault Hall were running abnormally. Just as she was about to ask what was happening, her trusted minister appeared before her, and she rose at once: "What has happened?"

"Your Majesty, the communication link to the Great Wall has suddenly been restored—the signal comes from the north. High Courier Suo You and the human duke Gao Yang Cecil wish to speak with you."

"Suo You and Duke Cecil..." Belantia's brows could not help but lift slightly, but she quickly asked, "Was it not said that the communication functions of the Sentinel Towers would not repair themselves until at least next spring?"

"The signal was not sent by a Sentinel Tower—it is some manner of human communications technology," the chancellor lowered his head. "High Courier Suo You states that an emergency has arisen, and that she had no choice but to agree to the humans establishing an emergency channel."

"...I understand," said Belantia, well acquainted with Suo You's principles; she did not dwell on the matter in the slightest. She waved her attendants away and stepped forward. "Lead the way. Route the communication to the main control room."

"Yes."